Chapter 969: Royal Government
Chapter 969: Royal Government (Part )
Wang Yan is still very positive.
I started working on the first day after arriving in Bianliang: boating on the lake and working on the boat.
Although there were faint sounds of stringed instruments coming from the boat, Lao Wang was indeed on a business trip.
On June 23, the boat entered the Xingyang Putian Lake and drifted on the wide lake. Soon, a small boat approached and the Bianliang Duzhi Captain boarded the boat to report on his work.
If nothing unexpected happened, Yang Bao would serve as the General of Revenue for a period of time after the founding of the country, in charge of the various Revenue Commandants distributed in Luoyang, Pingyang, Jinyang, Bianliang, Yecheng and other places.
As a junction of many canals, the importance of Bianliang is unquestionable. The Duzhi Xiaowei stationed here is a military student with an impressive name: Gao Ming.
The main purpose of meeting Wang Yan today is to dispatch a part of the food and military supplies stored here, send them south along the Suiyang Canal, and then transport them to Runan through the well-connected water system to support the war in the south.
When Gao Ming's boat was docking, a faint noise came from the cruise ship that Wang Yan was on.
Bian Tao was the first to get off the boat. He was already a little tipsy and kept muttering to himself, "I will drink and sit happily, and walk leisurely in the long forest."
He looks like a frustrated scholar!
After getting ashore, he turned his head and met Gao Ming's eyes.
Bian Tao opened his eyes wide and looked at him carefully, and found that the man was wearing an official robe, a sword hanging from his waist, his hands were as big as palm-leaf fans, and there were thick calluses on his palms.
Looking at his stature, he is not very tall, but strong and sturdy, with slightly dark skin and bright eyes.
Officials of this appearance were rare in the past, and it was difficult to guess their origins. Now everyone knows: they were martial arts students.
During the five-year accelerated learning career, they have to undergo a lot of training, so they are lean and strong, and their skin is not fair.
This is not a good thing in an age where white is considered beautiful.
Gao Ming was also looking at Bian Tao.
It is tall but a little thin. It would be an exaggeration to say that it looks like a bamboo pole, but the overall figure is like a slender dog placed there upright.
Her skin was fair, very fair, reflecting the sun, and she might have put on some powder.
The weather in June was still quite hot. Before the man had taken a few steps, beads of sweat were already running down his forehead, soaking the foundation on his face.
This person may have realized it, so he took out a handkerchief and wiped it.
Gao Ming smiled at him.
Bian Tao didn't understand what he meant, he just felt a chill.
Although there were many scholars who were fond of homosexuality, he did not like it and could even be said to hate it.
It is not normal for a warrior to kill a talented person, one by one.
They like beautiful women, and this "woman" mostly refers to women, but sometimes it also refers to men.
Bian Tao cursed inwardly, walked quickly away, and headed for a pavilion on the shore.
Gao Ming didn't know what was wrong with Bian Tao, so he withdrew his gaze, boarded Wang Yan's boat, and went straight into the cabin after the clerk reported.
The cabin was very large, with more than ten tables and chairs. Wang Yan sat at the top. His eyes were still clear, and it was obvious that he had not drunk much.
The female musicians had already left, and the cabin was in a mess.
Someone was drunk and snoring in his sleep.
Some people were crying at their desks.
Some people stared at the air like idiots.
Only a few people were still awake, whispering to each other.
"Bianliang Duzhi Colonel Gao Ming pays his respects to the Prime Minister." Gao Ming bowed.
Wang Yan smiled, raised his right hand, pointed at the scene in the cabin, and asked, "What do you think of this scene, Captain?"
Gao Ming raised his head, glanced around again, and said, "When Mr. Yu was alive, I didn't notice anything unusual. After Mr. Yu passed away——"
After that, he sighed and said, "Officialdom habits have reached this point."
Wang Yan laughed loudly, and the few sober guests at the table were dumbfounded, but also somewhat appreciative.
Although they are not of the same kind, he dares to "surpass his superiors", which shows some of the character of a scholar.
"None of the guests here today are officials," Wang Yan said with a smile.
Gao Ming was stunned for a moment, then bowed again and said, "I made a rash conclusion without understanding the facts, which is indeed a mistake. However -"
He pointed at the food and wine on the table and said, "The table is full of delicious food, and the jars are full of fine wine. This is too much. I am a lieutenant of the sixth rank of Duzhi, and I only eat meat and wine during the four seasons and eight festivals. When practicing martial arts, I kill some pigs and dogs... The trend of extravagance is worse than natural disasters. The Prime Minister should warn us."
Wang Yan nodded slightly, feeling a little regretful.
This person is a martial arts student, but he is not in a position to recruit him. It's not that he doesn't dare, but there is no need to do so.
"You have some truth in what you said." Wang Yan stood up and said, "But things in this world are not what you want them to be. The delicacies and fruits in today's banquet are not from the government treasury. But if we want to fill the treasury so that the soldiers on the front line have food when hungry and clothes when cold, we have to do this."
While Wang Yan was speaking, the guests looked at Gao Ming with amusement.
What does it have to do with you that they raise their own female musicians and pay for the banquets? Even the food and fodder consumed by the troops attacking Xiangyang at this moment were provided by them. This lieutenant of the Ministry of Finance was only responsible for transporting food, but filling the inventory of the palace required the joint efforts of all their families. If it weren't for the prime minister's face, they wouldn't even be willing to come here.
"The trend of luxury is never good." Gao Ming shook his head.
"Well, I've had enough fun today." Wang Yan smiled, flicked his sleeves, and said, "Let's go ashore and take a walk."
When he was about to leave the cabin, he turned his head to look at the few guests who were still awake and said, "You guys come too."
Several people responded and followed.
The group got off the boat and walked towards the pavilion where Bian Tao was.
"How many soldiers are there under Captain Gaoxiao's command?" Wang Yan asked as he walked.
"More than 2,400 transport troops and 300 large and small ships." Gao Ming replied. "What kind of troops are transport troops?"
"I am a soldier for generations." Gao Ming replied, "In my spare time, I farm and fish by the water. When I am called upon, I transport food and grain."
"Are those warships and soldiers in the sea of sand transporting troops?"
"Yes." Gao Ming said, "These are the brave and capable soldiers under the command of the Duzhi school lieutenant. They are gathered together for training so that they can attack Wu."
"Only in the sea of sand?"
"No. Heyang has the most people, no less than 5,000, while Yecheng and Bianliang only have more than 1,000 people each."
"Why?"
"There, in the river bank, the water waves are slightly agitated and the river wind is slightly stronger, so you can practice your real skills."
"How do the waves on this river compare to those on the big river?"
Gao Ming was silent for a moment, then said, "Not even close."
Wang Yan understood.
No wonder the southern navy is so powerful; this is where the problem lies.
The group soon arrived at the pavilion.
Unfortunately, the sun was scorching and the pavilion was not cool. After sitting for a while, everyone couldn't stand it anymore, so they moved to a bamboo garden nearby.
"Has Captain Gaoxiao ever been to Huainan?" The servants, sweating profusely, brought over a stool and a bed. After Wang Yan sat down, he asked casually.
“I went there many years ago when I was in Chen County.”
"Oh? The North and the South had not yet been divided at that time?"
"That's right." Gao Ming replied, "The farthest I went was Shouchun and Hefei, to help the Wu people transport grain."
"How's the scenery?"
Gao Ming thought for a moment and said, "There is a scene that is very surprising. When the Wu people reclaimed wasteland, they mostly took it from the lowlands. They used long dikes to contain the water from the river and pond, and used it to surround the fields inside and the dikes outside. As a result, the river was high and the fields were under water. They also built dikes along the dikes to irrigate the fields, so the yield per mu was high, but they were only worried about floods."
"Are all the fields in the south of the Yangtze River like this?" Wang Yan asked again.
"That's not the case," Gao Ming replied, "Some of the polder fields that were opened up decades or hundreds of years ago have gradually become level with the river."
After listening to this, Wang Yan looked at the guests and asked, "How is it?"
Everyone looked at each other, and no one said anything.
"Prime Minister." Bian Tao mustered up his courage and spoke first. "When discussing the Dao in Jinyang, I talked with someone and learned that when the Fen River flows through Taiyuan, the river is high and the farmland is low, so it benefits greatly and irrigates tens of thousands of hectares of farmland, making it a prosperous place. But when it flows through Pingyang and Hedong, the river is below the farmland, making it difficult to irrigate the farmland. Therefore, the benefits of the Fen River are mostly in Taiyuan, not in Pingyang."
"I often farm at home. When the river is high and the fields are low, as long as it is not a year of flood, the harvest will be much higher. This is called the upper field."
"Over the past ten years, the number of wheat growers in the north has gradually increased. However, wheat prefers water irrigation more than millet. Just as the lieutenant Gao said, the land built in the south of the Yangtze River is mostly good farmland. If we manage it well, we will definitely reap great profits."
Wang Yan looked at everyone and said with a smile: "Yingzhi is indeed good at managing the business. When you go to Wu in the future, your family will become more prosperous."
Everyone agreed.
Wang Yan added: "In October of the sixth year of Jiahe in the Eastern Wu Dynasty (237), Zhuge Ke completed the campaign to pacify the Shanyue. By then, the Shanyue birds in Danyang, Lujiang, Xuancheng, Xin'an and other counties had been wiped out and were no longer seen in the annals. If you go there someday, you can farm as you please, and I don't think there will be any thieves."
Wang Yan was talking about the future migration to the south in his words. The reason was probably that he had just asked for a large amount of supplies, so he painted a rosy picture for them so that they would not be too resentful.
In addition, land measurement was necessary after the founding of the country.
The land measurement in the north and the attack on Jiangdong are two sides of the same coin. Only by conquering the Jianye regime can the land measurement be carried out smoothly with relatively little backlash.
Wang Yan knows this very well, so he has started warming up now. Today is just the first game.
This is also his governing style.
He does not have the ability to handle official affairs meticulously like Yu Chen. His ability lies mostly in his eloquence, so he can only "command people" rather than "take charge of things."
The crowd talked by the bamboo forest until 3 p.m. before stopping.
Wang Yan approved the transfer of 300,000 hu of grain to the south.
If he had been in the same temper as he was twenty years ago, he would never have been so happy.
I am in charge of the military rations, so I am dragging my feet and not giving you the chance to make a contribution.
I have reinforcements at my disposal, but I will leave you to fight alone.
He was not the only one who did this. The factional conspiracy did not only refer to Wang Yan, he was just one of the representatives.
What's the benefit of helping Mianyang North Governor Le Kai win the battle? Will it make Nanyang Le family more famous and challenge his position?
Let the sons of the Le family enter the court, occupy key positions, and suppress the Wang family of Langya?
But now it is not possible to do so. If anyone dares to treat military and national affairs as a joke, King Liang will make it a joke for you.
Being oppressed by such a powerful monarch, the scholars all over the world are not very comfortable. They are forced to do things they don't like. It is not easy.
On June 26, Wang Yan returned to Bianliang and summoned scholars from surrounding counties and states such as Chenliu, Puyang, Chen, Liang, and Xingyang to gather together.
This time, it was obvious that many poor young men were called over.
But there were no local tyrants. After all, Lao Wang came from a noble family and was quite discriminatory towards these people.
At the same time, many of the former Liang State's Cao Cheng and Lingshi officials were sent out to serve as county officials, and they were replaced by humble scholars carefully selected by Wang Yan.
As the saying goes, a new emperor appoints new ministers, and the same is true for the prime minister. Yu Chen's era has passed, and now Wang Yan is in power.
At this time, a letter from Luoyang made the old king quite hesitant: King Liang asked him to submit a strategy for selecting officials for the new dynasty.
On the first day of July, Mao Bang, the Internal History of Gaoyang, arrived in Bianliang and took up the post of Lang of the Minister of Personnel to assist Wang Yan in settling the matter.
Obviously, after doing this, Mao Bang would most likely be promoted immediately and become the head of the Ministry of Personnel.
The future is so bright that it makes people envious.
(End of this chapter)